Lionel Messi: ”Even if I played for a million years, I’d never come close to Maradona. Not that I’d want to anyway. He’s the greatest there’s ever been.”

Michel Platini: "What Zidane could do with a ball, Maradona could do with an orange.”

Carlos Tevez: “Diego, for all Argentinians, is God. And he always will be”

Glenn Hoddle: “For Maradona to win a World Cup on his own, and let’s face it, that’s what he did as the rest of the team were ordinary, was an amazing achievement. He was the best player I’ve seen”

Eric Cantona: “Some say Pele was the greatest player of all time, but not me. Maradona will always be the greatest."

Jorge Valdano: “Beyond everything else, no ball ever had a better experience than when it was at his left foot.”

Hector Enrique: “There will never be anyone like Maradona again, not even if Messi wins three World Cups in succession.”

Sir Bobby Robson: “A genius, a real artist, one of the greatest players in the world. He could win a match on his own. On his own.”

Ruud Gullit: “The best player there has ever been, better than Pele. I watched him closely in Italy every week and he was at a different level to everyone else. Some of the things he did were unbelievable. He could control the ball without looking.”

Marcel Desailly: “The best player I’ve seen in my life. He did things that didn’t seem humanly possible. He decided matches alone, carrying average teams like Napoli and Argentina to glorious achievements. A genius.”

Luciano de Crescenzo: “He had that magic, that special something that makes you realise you’re dealing with something out of this world, the likes of which will never be seen again.”

Zico: "I saw Maradona do things that God himself would doubt were possible."

Fabio Cannavaro: “Maradona is a God to the people of Naples. Maradona changed history. We always fought relegation but with him we won two leagues, a UEFA Cup, two Italian Cups."

Jorge Valdano: “Diego apologised to me after he scored that second goal against England. The fact is I felt offended. It was an insult to my profession. I mean, even on a run like that he still has the time to look up and see me. As a player I was nothing compared to him.”